The distribution of wildlife on Earth is changing with the climate, making conditions more favorable to odd species such as trumpeter swans, beetles, marmots, albatross, killer whales and white-tailed deer.

Another creature that is likely to flourish in warmer waters is the Schistocephalus solidus tapeworm. The parasite spends most of its life growing inside the three-spined stickleback fish, which is about the size of a small sardine and lives in oceans and lakes throughout the Northern Hemisphere.

Certain species of insects, like mosquitoes, ticks and invasive beetles, are also expected to benefit from warmer temperatures. In fact, a 2003 study published by the Ecological Society of America concluded that "all aspects of insect outbreak behavior will intensify as the climate warms."

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Considering that humanity does not have the resolve to change our habits, we might as well think of ways to live with the mess that results. Can you eat marmots? I'm vegetarian, so all I can hope for is giant turnips or something equally strange. Like the big veggies in Woody Allen's movie Sleeper.

What natural products exist that repel insects, especially mosquitos? My daughter's family lives in the forest of NE Washington state, with lots of critters of all kinds. How do we protect them and their animals?

We've seen the spread of previously tropical diseases like West Nile virus across the US. When I was in north Houston last August, one in every three mosquitoes sampled in my neighborhood were found to be carrying West Nile and St. Louis encephalitis viruses. In southeastern Texas, other tropical diseases such as dengue and malaria are ocurring more often - and not just among recent immigrants. I think we'll see outbreaks of malaria, dengue, and yellow fever in the south and east as the range of Aedes and Anopheles mosquitoes expands with warming temperatures. Lack of decent access to healthcare for the 99% will make this even more of an issue.

Another blindingly obvious result of warming is the destruction of the whitebark pine in the northwest. Parts of Idaho and Montana are practically denuded, whole forests brown and dead due to an explosive pine bark beetle infestation that seems unstoppable. The beetles have always been there, but they used to be controlled by subzero winter temperatures, which now seem to be a thing of the past. Many animals and birds depend on the seeds of the whitebark pine for food, and I haven't heard of many alternatives for them. Here in Puget Sound, there have been reports of usually tropical fish species being caught or sighted.

It really chaps my ass when, in spite of the thudding weight of evidence, the GOP and their idiotic minions crow about how a snowstorm in Atlanta debunks global warming or how, if warming is real, humans aren't responsible for it....because God is in charge and he wouldn't let that happen, right?